April's Sister, Shredder's Apprentice: May O'Neil
by May-Yinagi-O'Neil
Summary: Raphael goes top side for some fresh air, he runs into a young girl with red hair and emerald green eyes in a dark alley. But, why was she out there all alone at night, sitting in a alley? The turtles just might find out, the hard way.


Disclaimer: I do **NOT** own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Splinter, April, or anyone else.

But I **DO** own my character that is introduced near the end, but that's all.

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Just your average day in New York City. The daily buzz of the city. Smoke, cars, pollution, dark alleys, gangs, and four mutant turtles and a rat living in your everyday underground sewers. Their home, lair, whatever you want to call it, was much like a cave, but manmade, with yellowish bricks. The décor wasn't anything special, some couches and several televisions in the living room, a large artificial sewer lake, sand bags, computers, the works. And..not to mention, the floor around the kitchen littered with empty chip bags and two pizza boxes.

Buried in the debris, was one of the mutant turtles that lived here. Pretty much a normal turtle, only about five feet tall and more man like, muscles, three fingers and toes on its hands and feet. This turtle wore knee pads, elbow pads, an orange belt around his waist and an orange headband with slits for the eyes, since it went…over the eyes. He was snoring very loudly for that fact, and seemed to be asleep, on the couch, buried in popcorn and potato chip bags. He was also muttering every now and then. "..nugh…giant doughnuts.. pizza….nooo…don't…run…Mikey wants to..eat you…" He said, his muscular arm reaching up towards the ceiling, then dropping down to his side again with a loud snore.

"Where is Michaelangelo?" Said a rather large rat, maybe about…four feet or so. He carried a wooden stick and wore a worn brown yukata with black trim and a black leather belt around his waist. He also had a fatherly look about him, but…also a more, old man kind of look, strict, grumpy..the works.

"Did you get a good rest, Master Splinter? Oh, and he's…sleeping in front of the TV…again." Replied a mutant turtle with a purple headband around his eyes. He himself was sitting in front of a computer screen with many different gadgets and other screens surrounding it. It looked..homemade, and it was. By and for the resident techno geek, Donatello.

Master Splinter grunted in reply, giving the sleeping Michaelangelo a disapproving look. He had missed out on his evening training once again. He'd have to wake him up later. But first…Splinter glanced over in the little training section of the lair, spotting the teenage ninja mutant turtle with a blue headband sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, meditating. He walked over to him very quietly and made to whack the meditating turtle on the shoulder with his wooden stick, but the turtle quickly caught it with his left hand just before it hit his shoulder. "Ah, very good Leonardo. You are steadily improving." He said with a fatherly smile.

"Thank you Sensei. I am doing my very best at getting better in case Shredder and the Foot—" But Leonardo never got to finish, for the last, but certainly not least, of the four ninja turtles had spoken up very loudly. He wore a red bandana and had just given one of the sand bags one good punch. "Hey. I'm going topside for a bit o' fresh air." He announced, heading toward the entrance of the lair. Before Master Splinter could protest, he had already disappeared from site. Raphael ran along the stone sidewalks of the sewers waters, climbed up the ladder leading to the surface, and pushed up the manhole lid, finding himself in a dark alley. He let out a sigh, taking a deep breath. It felt good to be on the surface, even with a dumpster next to you. But this was coming from someone that had lived in the sewers for fifteen years.

Raphael began scooting out of the hole, just big enough for him to lift his large green shell and himself out of the hole. He quietly replaced the lid, in case there was anyone nearby and made to jump onto a ladder to go up onto the roof of a nearby building when he noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there, besides his scaly hide. It was a girl, a young one at that, about twelve years old, what it looked like. There was something familiar about her. Emerald green eyes, long red hair. Even in the dark, he could make out these features.

"April?" He called out quietly, the image of the turtles' female human red head friend immediately coming into his mind. He shook his head. Nah, it couldn't be her, she was too young. He slowly approached the girl. "Hey, you alright kid? Ya know…you shouldn't be out here all alone in the dark like this. Where are your parents?" He asked gently. The girl didn't answer, so he walked another couple steps closer, only to have a long dagger like object come flying towards him. With his quick reflexes, he caught it before it hit his face, gently throwing it aside. "Look. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to help you. Are you lost?" He asked again.

The girl with the green eyes and red hair just glared at him, but it was hard to notice in the dark of the alley. "Stay away, you…thing." She hissed, her voice sounding pretty young. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out another one of the long daggers, called a kodachi, holding it at ready to throw if need be. After a moment of just staring at each other, neither so much as moving a muscle, the girl jumped up one a nearby staircase, disappearing up onto the roof top. She was incredibly quick for someone like her. A female child.

"Hey!" Raphael shouted, soon going up after her. He couldn't just let her run off like that. Without so much as knowing who she was. In about a minute, he had caught up to her, catching her by the arm. "Hey, let me go you!" The girl shouted, making to throw her kodachi at Raphael, but he had taken her other arm as well, making her drop her weapon. "C'mon kid. I'm taking you to the local police station, so they can take you back home. Stop struggling, I'm not going to hurt you!" Raphael said, trying to reason with her, but, as usual, that wasn't easy. At least she wasn't screaming, which would bring the police all over him. "Leggo! Just you wait, I'm gonna tell April, then she'll kick your"

Raphael immediately loosed his grip, but not enough to able her to break free. His grip was pretty strong, what with all the training he had done with Master Splinter and his brothers. "What? You know April? How?" He said, bombarding her with questions. The girl just glared at him, keeping her mouth shut now. Obviously, he had either hit a touchy spot, or she had let something slip she wasn't supposed to, or both. How did this freak know her---Her thought was cut short.

"Well," Raphael started. "In that case, I can just take you back to her apartment, saves time and---"

"She's not home." The girl replied rather quickly.

"Huh?"

"She's not home." The girl repeated. "She's out for tonight. But I have a key to the apartment, so I can just go myself, thank you. So, it you would…kindly let me go..!" She said, trying to pull free again but of no prevail.

"Oh no, kiddo. I'm not letting you stay there all by yourself. It's not safe. What is someone uh…breaks in and kidnaps you? Then what? Look, I'm taking you with me, and your sister'll have to come pick you up. Until then, climb onto my back. Trust me, you're a lot safer with me than you are all alone in your apartment." Raphael explained, going to pick up the girl and carry her in her arms since she didn't look anywhere close to getting a free piggy back ride from him.

The girl just kind of…gaped at him with her mouth open. "Wha--? How do you---How do you know she's my sister? I mean, no! She's not my sister, she's just…a friend. Yeah, a friend, deffinately not my—"

Raphael gave a smile, something he rarely did. Guess he had a weak spot for kids. "It really isn't that hard to tell." He said, examining her from head to toe. "The red hair, the green eyes, even your face looks like April. I thought you were April at first glance."

The girl continued to just stare at him with wide eyes as Raphael lifted her off her feet, and she didn't struggle. She was too dumstruck and confused. Who was this mutated thing? How did he know her sister, and..and…gah, the more she thought, the more questions popped in her mind. And panic rose too. Was she being kidnapped? By some freaky green monster! Still, she didn't move or say anything, scared that he might eat her brains or kill her. Someone had been reading too many comic books.

"Put your arms around my neck and hang on tight, so you don't fall off when I climb down." Raphael instructed, now making his way down the manhole, climbing down the long steel ladder plastered against the wall.

The girl obediently wrapped her skinny arms tightly around Raphael's neck, not wanting to die any time soon. But, being part of the—

"Hey, kid. What's your name?" Raphael asked, giving a laugh at how tightly she had her arms around his neck, nearly strangling him, climbing down the ladder, interrupting her blissful thinking yet again.

"Uh, huh, what? Oh...um..it's May. May O'Neil." The girl answered, rather hesitant and nervous about the whole situation. Her eyes were closed very tightly. It was strange, how she could jump up onto the rooftop so easily, but seemed to be afraid of heights.

Raphael gave a soft kind of laugh. It was cute really, this little girl, though she really wasn't that little. She was only three years younger than he was, and she was almost a teenager. "Nice to meet you, May, I guess. Raphael, at your service." He said with a bit of sarcasm, giving another laugh. While May found this situation awkward, Raphael found it extremely funny.

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Author's Note Sorry if it's a bit short. This is just the introduction, after all. 


End file.
